Nebraska Football Player Power Rankings: A New #1 and the Five-Star Who Finally Showed Up

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EAST LANSING, MI - SEPTEMBER 26: Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive end Williams Nwaneri (96) makes a diving sack on Michigan State Spartans quarterback Cam Fancher (2) during a college football game between the Michigan State Spartans and Nebraska Cornhuskers on September 26, 2026 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, MI. (Photo by Adam Ruff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Welcome to the most recent edition of my Nebraska Football player power rankings. As I have said before, this list will be completely subjective in several ways and may not follow a logical path. Or maybe it will.

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This Power Ranking list will be a combination of the most important, most impactful, a recent contribution, waiting in the wings, rumors of greatness, rumors of not-so-great, players that made one great play to change a game (for better or worse) or any other type of metric that I think should go with this subjective list.

So without further ado, here is my most recent definitive and completely subjective Nebraska Football Player Power Ranking.

Here are links to prior Nebraska Football Player Power Rankings.

Start of Fall Camp
Halfway through Fall Camp
Week One: Ohio
Week Two: Bowling Green
Week Three: North Dakota
Week Four: Michigan State

The List

RankingPlayerPositionPrevious RankingMovement1stAnthony ColandreaQuarterback2nd+12ndOwen ChamblissLinebacker3rd+13rdJustin EvansCenter1st-24thKwazi GilmerWide Receiver7th+35thDonovan JonesDefensive Back10th+56thWilliams NwaneriDefensive LinemanUnranked+67thAndrew MarshallDefensive Back8th+18thLuke LindenmeyerTight End9th+19thJamal RuleRunning Back4th-510thJacory Barney Jr.Wide Receiver6th-4

10. Jacory Barney Jr., Wide Receiver

Prior Ranking: 6th

Jacory Barney caught one pass and fumbled it. Luckily Justin Evans jumped on it.

Barney left the game with an apparent injury though at this time we do not know if he’ll be back for Maryland or if this is a long term issue.

Yesterday Head Coach Matt Rhule said he would be surprised if Barney isn’t back because “he’s made of rubber.”

9. Jamal Rule, Running Back

Prior Ranking: 4th

I think there were a couple of runs before Jamal Rule got hurt that made me think “welcome to the Big Ten freshman.”

I think that experience will be great for Rule as he is clearly the most talented running back in the room. He only played eight snaps but he gets to hang out in the Top 10 because of the work he did prior to the Michigan State game.

The fact that he came out of the locker-room and was doing sprints on the sideline to test his ankle makes me think that he could go this week but maybe the staff might want to wait a week and get a healthy Jamal Rule against Indiana.

Nebraska is favored by 12-14 points this week against Maryland. The Terrapins were blown out by UCLA this past week (54-3) so maybe Rhule is thinking he could rest Jamal Rule to get him ready for Indiana. However, we know that football coaches do not think that way. It’s hard to win games in college football.

8. Luke Lindenmeyer, Tight End

Prior Ranking: 9th

Lindenmeyer was targeted five times and caught four passes. They tried to get him a touchdown on the goal line but were unsuccessful.

But Lindenmeyer continues to go “head hunting” as I saw him getting knockdown after knockdown. He is almost like a kid in youth baseball that is getting paid a dollar per base they make. He’s going after those knockdowns like he’s getting paid for it.

Which is great.

7. Andrew Marshall, Defensive Back

Prior Ranking: 8th

One of my favorite aspects of the play-by-play of Marshall’s interception against Michigan State is how disappointed they sound. They were probably hoping that Michigan State would score a touchdown on that drive (6:48 left in the fourth quarter) to make it a game but Marshall shut the door on that hope. 

Marshall had his highest graded game of the season by PFF at 79.8.


6. Williams Nwaneri, Defensive Lineman

Prior Ranking: Unranked

I think the five-star defensive lineman has finally arrived. On Monday, Matt Rhule was very hesitant to anoint Nwaneri but after two sacks against Michigan State and a blocked kick, we are starting to finally see what we thought we were getting when he transferred from Missouri. 

I loved his quote from the post-game press conference – “(Defensive coordinator Rob Aurich) said to make the quarterback see ghosts.”

5. Donovan Jones, Defensive Back

Prior Ranking: 10th

Sometimes real good players make real good plays. Jones has two sacks over the past two games on some timely blitzes. Against Michigan State, he got the strip sack fumble and then jumped off the ground to recover the fumble. 

Apparently going into the season he was considered the second best NFL prospect on the Nebraska roster and we are starting to see why. 

On his forced fumble against Michigan State, I thought the quarterback was was already down, but Jones still forced and recovered the fumble.

4. Kwazi Gilmer, Wide Receiver

Prior Ranking: 7th

Gilmer is starting to remind me a little bit of Trey Palmer with his ability to take the top off the defense. He’s leading the team in receptions and yards. He also has done a great job of blocking down the field. But this gives me the opportunity to tell the following boring story.

My internet went out at the worst time on Saturday.

It happened as Nebraska’s offense went three-and-out for the second straight possession. Michigan State just went up 3-0 on a field goal and we were ready to give them the ball back. What was definitely going to happen (as we have seen this before) is that Michigan State is going to get the ball back and score a touchdown. They would be up 10-0 and then it’s Pat Fitzgerald time and they would drain the clock the rest of the game.

I thought our only chance to beat Michigan State was to get an early lead and force them to throw the ball. So here we are as Nebraska is about to snap the ball to Archie Wilson and then boom, my internet went out.

A few minutes later it came back and we are up 7-3.

I literally started texting my friends saying “what the _____ just happened?”

What I also did not realize until a couple hours after the game is that the punt that I missed was actually blocked. Luckily Nebraska got the benefit of a holding penalty before the 44-yard touchdown pass to Kwazi Gilmer.


3. Justin Evans, Center

Prior Ranking: 1st

The Nebraska offense had trouble running the ball against Michigan State and the offensive line as a whole had their worst day of the season so far according to their PFF ratings. Still Justin Evans is considered one of the best centers in the country and I think they will get the run game figured out.

Justin Evans also made one of the biggest plays of the game. It ended up being a 17 yard “completion” from Colandrea to Jacory Barney but it was actually a shorter pass that Barney then fumbled.

But it was Justin Evans running down the field to be in position to jump on that fumble at the Michigan State 17-yard line. This was the play right after the Owen Chambliss interception. Nebraska ends up kicking a field goal to go up 17-3.

2. Owen Chambliss, Linebacker

Prior Ranking: 3rd

Owen Chambliss is going to get a lot of credit when the defense plays well. He is going to get even more credit when he drops into coverage and is in the right place at the right time for the interception.

Chambliss also had one of the best graded games according to PFF with a 72.8 and played 55 snaps. His tackling grade was an 83.8 which was great.

I hope he stays healthy because the defense just looks different when he’s out there.

1. Anthony Colandrea, Quarterback

Prior Ranking: 2nd

I know that I am not alone in thinking that if Anthony Colandrea was not our quarterback against Michigan State the game likely ends as a one score win or a one score loss.

Even with all of the timely penalties and turnovers by Michigan State it was Colandrea that was able to get from pressure or escape from the pocket to run for first downs on second and third and long. He did it at least three times to extend the drive against the Spartans.

There were several plays which would have been sacks last year which ended up in either an incompletion at worst or a chunk play at best. 

Through four games he has not turned the ball over once (admittedly he was credited with an interception but we know that was not his fault). 

I think the offense and the defense both gain confidence from knowing that he is back there at quarterback. Hopefully he can learn to slide from time to time so he can stay healthy.

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